“Yeah,” Cashman replied when asked if there was a chance that A-Rod could miss the entire season. “I think because (of) the serious nature of the surgery and the condition that he’s trying to recover from, you know, there is that chance.”

With any injury there is a possibility that setbacks can occur, and A-Rod’s injury and surgery were major ones. Cashman, for his part, preemptively notes that if his recovery takes longer than expected, it won’t be because Rodriguez isn’t trying his hardest to come back.

Still, can’t wait until the All-Star break comes around, Rodriguez is delayed in his return by a couple of weeks and the usual suspects in the New York press get their knives out for the guy. When that happens we’ll have a pool to guess which scribe cites Derek Jeter coming back on schedule from his broken leg as evidence that A-Rod simply isn’t a leader and a winner and all of that jazz.